Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 1918, Lance Sergeant William Herbert Waring V.C., 25th Battalion, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was killed in action at Ronssoy in France.

One of six children of a nail-maker, after leaving school he was employed as a general labourier on the Elan Valley Dams project, then in 1904 took up employment with a poultry dealer. That same year he joined the Montgomery Yeomanry, and in 1913 won a silver watch for best shot in his squadron. He was also a keen footballer and played forward for Welshpool Reserves, and for Welshpool and Oswestry.

At the outbreak of the Great War the Yeomanry was mobilised; Lance Sergeant Waring’s battalion was sent to Egypt in March of 1916. They went through training and re-organisation, from a grouping of the Montgomeryshire and Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, to the Welsh Horse, to the 25th Royal Welsh Fusiliers. In March of 1918 they were sent to the Western Front to help stop the German Offensive.

On the day of his death, Lance Sergeant Waring led an attack on German machine gun positions. While under heavy fire, and single-handed, he captured twenty of the enemy, killing four others, after which he led his men onward before being grievously wounded. He was taken to the Casualty Clearing Station but could not be saved, and lies buried in the Sainte Marie Communal Cemetery at Le Havre. For his bravery he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.